Ibrahim was discovered
by the legendary horse dealer, Alfred Lefevre at a local show in
Caen. He bought him from his breeder, René Haize for 500 francs. He
was born in 1952 and lived for 21 years.

In 1956, Ibrahim won the title of champion of
his age group and was sold to the State Stud St-Lô and stationed at
Sartilly.

Ibrahim was the most
famous Stallion at the St Lô Stud in the 60's & 70's . He bred
between 1956 and 1973, but took some time to gain popularity.
Despite having won the 3 year old Stallion competition, the Normandy
breeders took their time before realising how good he was!

In his first years as a stallion he even
bred with Normandy Draught mares. He covered 40 heavy mares between
1956 and 1966, and in 1961 he was so shunned that he bred not one
single sport horse!

His luck started to turn in 1965 thanks to
the mare, Norvale. One of his 1957 crop, she had produced several
foals before she began her sporting career as an eight year old with
Jean-Michael Gaud. The pair graduated to international ranks, and
were soon joined by others – Petit Prince C and Alain Navet, Quo
Vadie with Michel Raoul-Duval. Still the breeders were not
convinced, and in 1966 he covered three riding mares and one
draught.

The following year,
Jean-Michael Gaud produced another jumping star, Tango C, and more
mares arrived. He started to average about 25 foals a year, climbing
to a record 54 mares for 33 foals in 1969. And only one of them a
Draught! In 1970 Ibrahim progeny were the stars at Fontainebleau
when his four year olds dominated the jumping finals.

He had more than 30 stallions in France
and elsewhere and dozens of international winners. He also had a lot
of glorious broodmares as daughters and it was incredible to see
them all lined up in a row during the broodmare competitions.